He was Wyoming’s most wanted man for less than four hours before he was arrested in San Francisco after no-showing an arraignment hearing on 72 child sex abuse and pornography charges.
Now John Charles Smallbone, 38, is back behind bars at the Converse County Detention Center in Douglas, Wyoming.
Smallbone arrived at the jail Thursday morning after spending two days on the road being transported in custody from the San Francisco County jail 1,200 miles away, said Converse County Undersheriff Chris Walsh.
“That’s a fact. He’s here. We got him back this morning,” Walsh told Cowboy State Daily. “He’s been in the transit process since the 18th, working in conjunction with the Natrona County transport team.”
That means Smallbone is back where he was less than two months ago, when someone dropped $250,000 cash on a counter at the jail on June 24 to satisfy his bond on the dozens of charges he faces.
While this is the first time Smallbone has been returned to Wyoming to face prosecution, it’s not the first time he’s been caught outside the state while free on bond.
The Timeline
He was arrested in Colorado last month on a fugitive warrant, then was allowed to go free July 23 on a personal recognizance bond instead of being held for Wyoming authorities to come get him.
Then he no-showed his July 28 arraignment in Converse County District Court, but was caught less than four hours later in California.
“I cannot recall in my entire 36-year career getting a bond of that size posted, let alone someone absconding after it,” Walsh said.
Having Smallbone back in his jail, however, feels “fantastic” and is a tribute to the detective work of Cpt. Amber Peterson and Lt. Ben Peech.
“All the credit on that has to go to our two investigators who put a lot of planning and preparation into that,” Walsh said about being one step ahead of Smallbone to arrest him so quickly after skipping his arraignment.
“I don’t feel real good about what happened in Colorado, but what happened subsequently after that is a great example of … what our investigators did,” he said.
“It’s probably one of those crime series episodes you see on TV,” Walsh added. “And I’m very confident in the quality of case we put together.”
What About That San Francisco Hearing?
Smallbone was in a San Francisco courtroom on Aug. 6 for a hearing on his fugitive arrest, where he was held and another hearing set for Sept. 3.
He can be back in Douglas weeks ahead of that hearing because of the rules of extradition. Basically, Wyoming had 30 days to go and get Smallbone, and if that didn’t happen, another hearing would have been held Sept. 3.
“Had we not extradited him in the 30-day window, that hearing would’ve been held,” Walsh said.
As for the costs involved in going to get Smallbone, he agreed to pay for authorities having to go somewhere to bring him back to Wyoming when he signed his bond waiver.
Even so, “That’s the cost of doing business, and we’re perfectly willing to do it to get him back here,” Walsh said.
It’s not clear when Smallbone will be back in front of a Wyoming judge. A new hearing hasn’t yet been scheduled for him, the Converse County District Court confirmed late Thursday.
The Charges
Now that he’s back in Converse County, Smallbone will face those 72 charges alleging child sex abuse and exploitation. And there will likely be more added.
Converse County Deputy Attorney Nate Shumway said during the July 28 hearing that his office is filing amended charges against Smallbone that include the 72 he already had been hit with, plus more that he’s since picked up.
Those amended charges have so far not shown up in Smallbone’s public-facing court file.
The list of charges against Smallbone is long, including:
• 1 count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
• 36 counts of possessing child pornography.
• 16 counts of using a video camera to record intimate areas of another person without consent.
• 18 counts of knowingly manufacturing, generating, or creating child pornography.
• 1 count of possessing more than 3 ounces of marijuana (1.3 pounds).
He landed on the radar of the Converse County Sheriff’s Office after the mother of an underage girl reported concerning interactions her daughter had with Smallbone on May 9.
The girl was in a vehicle with Smallbone and others when he allegedly typed “if you suck me, I’ll lick you” on his phone and showed it to the girl, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Peech.
“He also mouthed the words, ‘I want to see you naked,’” the affidavit says.
Smallbone later denied mouthing anything or showing the girl any messages.
That, along with other alleged disturbing interactions with the girl at Smallbone’s home that evening, started an investigation that revealed a trove of photos, videos and other child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his electronic devices, the affidavit says.
The investigation also showed Smallbone had been convicted in 2002 of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust in Douglas County, Colorado.
He also had registered as a sex offender in Wyoming in 2014, but it was “later determined not to be required to register in Wyoming due to him being a juvenile at the time of his adjudication in Colorado,” according to the affidavit.
That was in reference to a 2001 case when Smallbone was 12 and was accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl, the affidavit says.
While in treatment for that incident, he disclosed he also had sexual contact with at least seven other children, and five were younger than him at the time of the sexual contact.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
